Free Write
A Decision My Parents Made

My parents decided to send me to private school in 7th grade. They thought I was sad. They thought I deserved better than sad. Perhaps I was. Perhaps I did. I didn't know it though, that I was sad.  I was on the red team. The 6th grade program was divided into colors. Red was my existence and learning was what I knew I was good for. I didn't understand how my parents would felt when I talked about what the "other kids" would say and play. I was awkward and uncomfortable and unaware. Lancaster Mennonite was different. I became aware. I cried almost everyday for the first week because everyone was interesting and uninterested. I cried because for the first time I wanted them to be. And then I made friends. And then I moved on. I spoke in class and had birthday parties and pool parties and my peers knew my house was fun. I always say highs and lows are not reliant on each other. My parents moved me from and knowledgeable quiet to a social energy that overruled everything else. John Green says in his book The Fault in Our Stars that "the existence of broccoli does not, in any way, affect the taste of chocolate." So not through comparisons but through a karmic give and take are the two related?